The Lakers entered the 2012-13 regular season with extremely high expectations based on the roster moves they made during the summer. However, the reality was not living up to those expectations on the court during preseason and early on in the regular season. Despite reassurances from management that Mike Brown was their guy, he was fired just five games into the season.
—- Go through the journey along with the Lakers starting line-up with this wallpaper! —-
Mitch Kupchak was a guest on CBS Radio on Tuesday and discussed the reason behind the team’s early on head coaching changes with John Feinstein. Kupchak said:
“The one thing that was a big factor is our lack of patience,” Kupchak said. “When we made the changes we made in the offseason, we really did it with a two- or maybe even a three-year window, probably a two-year window to do our best and win a championship. And clearly we knew Dr. Buss was not in great health, and we were hoping for the next year or two we could put something on the court that would result in being in the hunt at the end of the year for a championship.”
“And when we didn’t feel we could get there after a preseason and a small number of games, we didn’t feel we had the patience to wait and see if it was going to work out,” he continued. “And that’s really why we made the change we made so early.”
“We could’ve waited another month or two, but at the time I believe we were 1-4,” Kupchak said. “And if we would’ve waited another month we could’ve turned it around, or we could’ve been 2-12. We just didn’t want to wait. And that’s because we feel our best chance to win is this year and next year.”
The Lakers are trying to make a late push for the playoffs, and are currently three games behind the Houston Rockets for that coveted eighth and final playoff spot. The Lakers are playing better as of late, winning their last eight of twelve games. Despite recent progress, the Lakers are still trying to completely come together under Mike D’Antoni late in the season.
